Commentary legend Murray Walker has said that he feels sorry for three-time world champion Sebastian Vettel as the German driver faces a backlash from the fans after dominating Formula One in recent times.

Vettel’s success has widely been attributed to the pace of the Red Bull car, although teammate Mark Webber has failed to match the form of his teammate over the past three seasons. At the Canadian, Italian and Singapore Grands Prix, Vettel was greeted with boos and jeers upon taking to the top step of the podium, but Walker believes that he deserves better.

“I feel sorry for Vettel,” Walker explained to The Times of London. “He’s not getting the credit he deserves on account that he is in the best car. The less intelligent observers say anyone could do it in that car, but Mark Webber has not and he’s very good.

“Vettel is one of the greatest of all time.”

Vettel is set to clinch his fourth world championship at next weekend’s Indian Grand Prix, requiring a top-five finish at the race to secure an unassailable lead over closest-rival Fernando Alonso.

Walker is an icon in Formula One media, having commentated on the sport for over twenty-five years before retiring in 2001. However, he has remained a popular figure in the paddock ever since, celebrating his ninetieth birthday last week.

Vettel is a metaphor for today’s Formula 1: organized and competent…yet soulless. He succeeds because of a superior car and team organization. Statistically, he’s wildly successful, but hardly an “all-time great” like a Lauda, or Senna. For all the technical sophistication of the cars, Formula 1, essentially owned by Gulf Arab interests, is enveloped by an aura of Euro-chic pretense…and sleaze.
Vettel’s string of Champion victories remain pyric.